@Exkon: I agree with this idea; I definitely have known (either through working with or watching colleagues bring computers to) private techs who wouldn’t hesitate to find and take anything on the machines.

Really, it wouldn’t be the porn on the computers that would bother me, but imagine them taking personal photos and using them in a… well, an illicit way? It makes my skin crawl just to think about it…

Well, you know I’ve never dealt with Geek Squad because fortunately I’m the do-it-yourself kinda gal, but if they’re anything like the clueless Best Buy employees who talk like they’re experts (during which my brain is having a seizure and imagining their head exploding), copying files is probably all they really know how to do… they’re just trying to do enough work to earn their $30 afterall!

Did someone on the original post comment that they would take their computer in to have it defragged? WTF? You’d disassemble your system to take it in for THAT? Um, that person might be better off if the so called “technician” spilled a soda IN the CPU.

Being a quasi-part time computer repair guy myself, I can say that the temptation to snoop is very strong for us geeks. People keep their entri lives on their PC, and then they just hand it over to a complete stranger… it’s like taking your wallet in to get mended but leaving the money, credit cards, pictures of your kids, etc in there. My advice: make friends with your local geek; people are less likely to violate your privacy if they like you.

I would always be wary when getting tech support from poorly paid teenagers. You will find the same problem with any service bay that treats their employees the way best buy does. They (the geek squad peeps) have no motivation to maintain good behavior because if they get fired, they can find another, equally crappy job within a week.

One of the major problems with the way Geek Squad is being run is that they are trying to apply the same sales strategies they use to run the retail side of their business. You cannot run a tech bench like a retail store. It just does not work.

I used to work for a smaller computer company that had many computers come in and out the door. There was one supervisor that would continually check up on us and ask us if we found anything “interesting”. He was busted before for porn at work. We were told to copy the good stuff if we wanted to just don’t let the boss find out. I got sick of being harassed about not getting the porn. I eventually got sick of it and quit my job. On my exit interview I in formed the boss about my super’s actions. He was let go a short time after that. Most of the repair people I know only look as far as they have to, fix the problem, then return the system. It makes better business to fix it and get it out then waste time finding porn. There are those times when it is let out though and you can’t help but to find it.